412 Bactrian and Indo-Scythic Coins. [Ave. 
niska group. Fig. 18, a man sitting dressed in the Brah- 
manical dhoté, accords so far with No. 1 of Mr. Wison’s 
plate, a gold coin dug out of the tope at Manikyala by Ge- 
neral Ventura. Fig. 17, is of a novel type, but the coin 
was in too imperfect a state to permit an accurate de- 
velopment of the figures. 
| Hindu Coins. 
From the coins of Bactria a transitionis easily traced through the dark 
period of the Indo-Scythian or Buddhist dynasty, to which numerous 
coins have been allotted upon such degree of internal evidence as their 
appearance affords, to the coins of the Hindu Princes of. Central India, 
Andhra, Rajputana, Kanow, Indraprestha, and perhaps Magadha or. 
Behar. I have on a former occasion ventured to doubt* whether any 
native coin, properly so called, had circulation in India anterior to the 
incursion of Alexander. In none of the.ancient bookst of the Hindus 
is mention made of coined money. The word suvernat or gold, which 
occurs frequently in the Puranas, is supposed to mean a lump of gold 
of a fixed weight, such as is still current in Ava or China, Mr. H. 
T. CoLEBROOKE states§ on the authority of Menu and other authors, 
that the suverna (carsha, arsha, or tolaca) was equal to 16 mashas. 
If the masha was as now about 17.4 grains only, this would certainly. 
make the suverna|| small enough to admit of a doubt whether it did not 
bear some stamp: on the other hand, small lumps of gold called 
phatang, of a smaller weight and value, and without stamp, are still 
brought from the hills, and passed as cash in the purchase of goods 
in the plains. Again, the great analogy which is observed between the 
earliest Indian coins introduced to our notice by modern research, and 
those of the Macedonian colonists, is a very strong argument in 
favor of the supposition that the art of die-cutting was introduced 
at that period ; and the employment of Greek workmen may rea- 
sonably account for the continuance of Greek legends where other- 
wise they would have been little expected. A further direct and incon- 
testable proof of their connection is derived from the similarity of the 
* Journ. As. Soc. I. 394. 
+ The Raja Taringini, a comparatively modern work, mentions the dinar, a 
Persian gold coin. 
+ As. Res. V. 93. 
§ See Mr. RAVENSHAW’S note, page 266, 
|| Major WiLrorp, and many as inveterate etymologists, might have derived our 
English sovereign from this word, had it chanced to have been current at an earlier 
period than is assigned by our mint annals for its introduction, namely, E>Dwarp 
IV.’s reign, A. D. 1489. 
